Erik Holladay | Special to the Kalamazoo GazetteParticipants release the balloons at the end of the event at Martin Luther King Jr. Park in Kalamazoo to honor Martin Luther King Jr.KALAMAZOO — Whether they volunteered at a human service agency that catered to the less fortunate, marched over a mile through downtown streets or listened to inspiring words from public officials and community leaders, people in Kalamazoo honored Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday.

By the hundreds, they participated at several activities around the city in the last day of the three-day Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration, sponsored by the city of Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo College, the Northside Ministerial Alliance and Western Michigan University.

“Martin Luther King instituted a process to unite this nation as one,” said Larry Harris of Mt. Zion Baptist Church. “His dream is our dream and it is captured in each one of us.”

John Davis walked to a microphone at the Ecumenical Senior Center on Kalamazoo’s northside, holding only a piece of paper in his hand, but a large measure of inspiration in his heart.

On the page was the text of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. But Davis didn’t once need to turn his eyes away from the 50 or so gathered as he read the speech, his voice trembling at times with emotion. He knew the 1,652 words by heart, its message a part of him.

After the last few lines, “Free at last, free at least. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!” the room erupted in applause.

“This is my tribute King,” he told the crowd gathered, which included several elected officials, including U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, state Rep. Robert Jones, D-Kalamazoo and Kalamazoo Mayor Bobby Hopewell.

The senior center, on the corner of North and Burdick streets, was where one of Kalamazoo’s first civil rights demonstrations took place in the early 1960s.

Jones was working in a factory in lower Manhattan the day of King’s famous speech. It was pumped through the factory’s loudspeakers, he said, so that workers could hear what would go down as one of the most important and inspirational speeches in American history.

“The whole place stood silent,” he said. “But after it was over, we were filled with motivation and energy. King didn’t just talk the talk, he walked the walk. America wouldn’t be what it is today without Martin Luther King. We’ve come a long way.”

Emma Powell, 86, was one of those in attendance at the event.

A resident of Kalamazoo for more than 50 years, she has seen much progress take place in terms of civil rights. But more needs to be done to realize King’s dream, she said.

“I’ve seen a lot,” she said. “I’d like to see us get along better, come together, try to look past the color of someone’s skin.”

“Dream of a blessed community”

Just a few blocks from the senior center, several volunteers at Ministry With Community were busy putting the finishing touches on the 1:30 p.m. lunch. On the menu was what head cook and kitchen manager Denita Perry said was King’s favorite meal: collard greens, cornbread, sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese and chicken smothered in gravy and onions.

In her seven years at Ministry, she has seen perhaps two days when no volunteers showed up to help, she said. The facility serves breakfast and lunch Monday to Friday, all year long, to anyone who walks through the doors.

“I think that says a lot about our community,” Perry said of the staunch volunteer help. “We’re a family here. We take care of one another.”

It was Eric and Regena Nelson’s first time volunteering at Ministry, a drop-in day shelter. It was King’s push for community service and involvement was what motivated them to spend the afternoon there.

“(King’s) dream for a blessed community, a community where we take care of each other, that’s what this is all about, I think,” Regena Nelson said.

Added Eric Nelson, “I wanted to open my heart up to a population I might not have much interaction with on a daily basis. I think it’s made me realize there’s more that I can do, there are more ways I can serve my community.”

Alaina Parker, volunteer coordinator at Ministry, said that volunteering on MLK Day was a great way to “honor an American icon,” but stressed that King’s message of service needs to be adhered to every day that there is someone in the community in need.

“The random days that aren’t holidays, there are so many other times when help is needed, too,” she said. “When we close the doors at 5:30 p.m., poverty doesn’t end.”

“When people give back to their community, it’s appreciated,” said Carol Rodier, who is homeless. “We depend on them.”

“We Shall Overcome”

Along with a few of her friends, Mercedes Licavoli was busy outlining letters on a large white poster, later to be used in a march from Western Michigan University to Martin Luther King Jr. Park in downtown Kalamazoo.

“We need to carry on the trend of values that shaped MLK,” said Licavoli, a student at WMU, as she sat in the university’s Bernhard Center. “A lot of work needs to be done, but he is not forgotten. His purpose will never be forgotten.”

Students from WMU and several community members gathered near the flagpoles on the WMU campus before beginning their march. They carried signs of MLK quotes that read: “Let Freedom Ring,” “At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love,” and “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools,” among others.

Officers from WMU’s Department of Public Safety officers and the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety escorted the group of more than 200 as they marched down West Michigan Avenue to Kalamazoo College, where more students joined-in. From there, they marched downtown, ending at the park.

The upbeat mood turned more reflective as a wreath was placed at the feet of the civil rights leader’s statue — strewn with carnation flowers — as the crowd sang “We Shall Overcome,” an anthem of the civil rights movement.

“There were longer walks than the one we had here today,” said Hopewell to the marchers, alluding to the civil rights marches in the 1960s. “Today we are in a better place, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have work to do.”